Privy Council of the United Kingdom

Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council is a body of advisors to the British Sovereign. Formerly, the Council was a powerful institution, but is now largely ceremonial. Most of its power is held by one of its committees, the Cabinet. The Council also performs judicial functions, which are for the most part delegated to the Judicial Committee.

Other councils

The Privy Council is one of the four principal councils of the Sovereign. The other three are: the courts of law, the commune concilium (common council, or Parliament) and the magnum concilium (great council, or the assembly of all the peers of the Realm). All are still in existence, but the magnum concilium has not been formally summoned since 1640.

Related Topics:
Magnum concilium - 1640

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Several other "Privy Councils" have advised the Sovereign. England and Scotland once had separate Privy Councils, but the Act of Union 1707, which united the two countries into Great Britain, replaced both with a single body. Ireland, on the other hand, continued to have a separate Privy Council even after the Act of Union 1800. The Irish Privy Council was abolished in 1922, when Southern Ireland separated from the United Kingdom; it was succeeded by the Privy Council for Northern Ireland, which became dormant after the suspension of the Parliament of Northern Ireland.

Related Topics:
England - Scotland - Act of Union 1707 - Great Britain - Ireland - Act of Union 1800 - 1922 - Southern Ireland - Privy Council for Northern Ireland - Parliament of Northern Ireland

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Canada has had its own Privy Council—the Queen's Privy Council for Canada—since 1867. (Note that whilst the Canadian Privy Council is specifically "for Canada", the Privy Council discussed above is not "for the United Kingdom".) The equivalent organ of state in the other Commonwealth Realms and some Commonwealth Republics is called the Executive Council.

Related Topics:
Canada - Queen's Privy Council for Canada - 1867 - Commonwealth Realms - Commonwealth Republics - Executive Council

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